Police weigh crime problems at Lakeland Inn

In the past year, St. Louis Park police visited the Lakeland Inn on Hwy. 7 more than 200 times after reports of assault, prostitution, loud music and drug activity. Last month, a woman was murdered there.

Now city officials are comparing the motel's police calls to those of other hotels in the city and trying to measure its impact on police activity. That analysis may end in a bigger discussion with the City Council about licensing and other issues, said Police Chief John Luse.

"Probably a certain portion of the clientele goes there because it is moderately priced and affordable, and they have no criminal intentions," Luse said. "But there appears to be a significant problem with people who come and go for prostitution and drug dealing and using."

The Lakeland's owner, Hem Bhakta, said the city has targeted his property and that the police statistics are misleading. While the Nov. 18 murder of Pamela Jean Beaulieu was "unfortunate" and he said he feels sorry for the victim, he said he is not at fault.

"The media makes it sound like this is the murder capital of Minnesota," he said. "I don't want problems. We are just trying to make a living."

The motel, at 4025 Hwy. 7, was built in 1951 and has 24 rooms that rent at a rate of about $65 a night.

On Nov. 18, Beaulieu, 32, was found stabbed to death in what police described as a "horrific, bloody crime scene."

Beaulieu, who at times lived on the street, died a day after finishing a five-month stint in the Hennepin County workhouse on a drug charge. Last week, James Edward Reed, 31, of Minneapolis was arrested near Chicago and charged with first-degree murder.

The killing was a shock in St. Louis Park, which this year has had one other murder, involving a husband and wife. Beaulieu died the same week St. Louis Park native Michael Swanson, 17, was charged with killing two convenience store clerks in Iowa.

"I did see some e-mails from people saying, 'Wow, this is not what St. Louis Park is about,'" said City Manager Tom Harmening. "They're saddened by the negative connotation it places on the community."

He said the city does not keep a list of problem properties, but the Lakeland is inspected each year for property maintenance, health and sanitation and has passed those inspections and kept its lodging license.

"As we go about reissuing licenses for this coming year, we will have to take a look at the Lakeland as at others," Harmening said. "That kind of incident and the behavior on the property is unacceptable in our community. We are going to do whatever needs to be done under the law to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Between Nov. 1, 2009 and Nov. 18 of this year, there were 203 police calls to the Lakeland. More than half of those were not 911 calls from the motel but were initiated by police who made what Harmening called "a proactive visit" to the site or because someone off-site called police.

While the Lakeland is not the top location for police calls in the city, the volume of calls is out of proportion with its status as the city's smallest lodging place, Luse said. Because the motel seems to be a magnet for prostitution, low-level drug dealing and small-time drug use, he said, "the cops ... spend more time over there."

"What happens at the Lakeland just happens," he said. "It's sort of an ongoing thing."

Bhakta said that after the murder, he requested a list of police calls to his motel for the last three years. Four-and-a-half of the seven pages were for visits that were mostly initiated by police, he said.

"Every time they come into the parking lot and drive around, it goes against the property," he said. "They come every night and make a turn and run all the license plates.... What can I do about that?"

Bhakta said he has lived at the motel for 18 months, often with his three small children present, and has called the police five or six times. With an old motel, he said, he has to keep prices low. He said he keeps the identification of everyone who books a room.

Mary Jane Smetanka • 612-673-7380